Smoking in your NYC building: what the law requires your landlord to tell you

Since 2018, every residential building in New York City with three or more units has been legally required to have a written smoking policy. Most tenants have never seen theirs. Here is what the law requires and what you are entitled to know.

What Local Law 147 requires

Local Law 147 of 2017 (effective August 28, 2018, codified at NYC Administrative Code § 17-506.1) requires owners of all Class A multiple dwellings — buildings with three or more residential units, including rentals, cooperatives, and condominiums — to:

The law does not require buildings to be smoke-free. It requires them to have a stated, written policy and to disclose it. The content of the policy is the landlord's choice — the existence and disclosure are not.

What this means for you as a tenant

If you moved in after August 2018 and were not given a written smoking policy at or before lease signing, your landlord may not have been complying with the disclosure requirements of Local Law 147.

If you are considering an apartment, you are entitled to ask for the smoking policy before signing. A landlord who cannot provide the policy may not be complying with the disclosure requirements.

Indoor common areas and private apartments: different rules

If someone is smoking or vaping in an indoor common area — a hallway, lobby, laundry room, or stairwell — that is prohibited by the NYC Smoke-Free Air Act in residential buildings with three or more units, regardless of what the building's smoking policy says.

Smoking inside a private apartment is different: whether it is prohibited depends on the building's smoking policy and the terms of the lease. If the building has a no-smoking policy that covers private units and a neighbor is violating it, that is a lease violation the landlord can enforce. Document your complaint in writing to the landlord and keep the response.

Second-hand smoke as a habitability issue

Second-hand smoke infiltrating your unit from a neighboring apartment or common area can rise to a habitability issue under the warranty of habitability if it is severe and chronic. This is fact-specific and requires documentation: written complaints to the landlord, the landlord's responses, and documentation of the health impact.

Three things to do

First, ask for your building's smoking policy if you have never seen one. Your landlord is required to disclose it annually.

Second, if you are sensitive to smoke and considering an apartment, request the policy before signing.

Third, if smoke from a neighbor or a common area is affecting your unit, document it in writing to the landlord before escalating.

Sources: NYC Administrative Code § 17-506.1 (Local Law 147 of 2017); NYC Smoke-Free Air Act § 17-503; NYC DOHMH — Smoke-Free Air Act Landlord Factsheet: nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/smoke-free-act-landlord.page; NYC311 — Smoking Policy